House of Glass
by Snoball13
Summary: He always knew he'd fall for the girl he couldn't have. The thing was, the girls he liked always chased him. But oh, how right he was. Eventual SB/OC Rated mostly for safety.
1. Chapter 1

**This idea has been rolling around in my mind**** for a while, and when I didn't do anything with it, it started poking and prodding to get out. It was rather annoying, so I just had to give it a shot. Anyway, I like it, so I thought you might, too. Without further ado, here is **_**House of Glass.**_

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul  
>~Moshe Dayan<p>

**Chapter 1: Home Again**

As I stopped to face the train that would carry me back to school for another year, a light breeze lifted the tips of my hair. Its playful attitude seemed to reflect my own mood.

After two months of enduring my mother's obsessive-compulsive need for perfection, I was finally going home.

I breathed out a deep sigh and tilted my head back, revealing my face to the bright morning sun. I relished chance moments of relaxation like this; I could almost forget the crowds of people rushing all around me, despite their frantic shouts and scurrying feet. Behind the cover of my eyelids, there was peace.

"Put your head down, girl! You look ridiculous," my mother snapped.

I gritted my teeth and did as she said, closing my hands into tight fists. _Just five more minutes_, I told myself. _Five more minutes and you'll be free._

My brother reached over to touch the back of my hand in sympathy, and I shot him a quick grin. I knew he was just as eager to get away from our parents as I was.

"Well don't just stand there, get going!" my mother said. "We can't have you missing the train; I have a meeting in ten minutes."

I took a deep breath to refrain from saying anything that would get me in trouble and simply turned away from her.

Instead of saying goodbye like most of the kids around me, I waited until she had Disapparated and lifted my trunk off the trolley. I managed to struggle through two ludicrous, waddling steps in my attempt to reach the train before a voice behind me chuckled and said, "Need some help?"

"Remus?" I cried, whirling to face him. "Remus!" I dropped my trunk in the momentary surprise and subsequently tripped over it. I barely winced at my scraped palms as I jumped back up to hug my best friend.

If Remus was amused by my clumsiness he didn't show it, but he'd had plenty of years to learn that particular skill. "How've you been, Ash?" he asked seriously.

"Fine, I guess." I shrugged the question off noncommittally; Remus had heard enough about my home life to know that this wasn't a discussion for public ears. We would both talk about our summers later.

I squinted up at him to examine his face. "So how was -" I paused. "Geez, Rem, when did you get so tall?"

This time he couldn't help but laugh, and I glowered at him. "Maybe you just shrunk," he teased, eliciting another glare. Grinning, he bent over to pick up my trunk and lifted it with ease.

"Not possible," I told him. "Especially for me."

He ignored the comment and stowed my trunk with his. I was forever complaining about my lack of height – if I stood as straight as I could, I topped out at five-foot-three. I absolutely loathed being short.

I lingered by his side for a moment and said softly, "I'll see you at the feast?"

"Of course," he said, hugging me again. He ruffled my hair before he stepped into the compartment where his friends had already gathered, leaving me alone in the aisle.

I stood there for a minute before the train whistled and jerked me back to my senses. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I began walking the length of the train, searching for the other Gryffindor girls, the group of people I considered to be my best friends. I would have loved to spend the day with Remus, but with Remus came his friends, and that group I wasn't so fond of.

I found my friends about halfway down the train, so caught up in a heated argument that they didn't notice when I entered and sat down by the door.

Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon were both raising their voices at each other, standing face to face. Lily's face was a brilliant shade of red, but after listening for a few seconds I couldn't decide if that was with rage or embarrassment.

"You might as well just admit it now, Lily!" Marlene's hands were on her hips. "I don't see what the big deal is anyway; we're your friends - you can trust us."

"There's nothing to admit!" Lily said shrilly. "It was just a couple of letters, I swear!"

"If it was just a couple of letters, you would have told us about it. But you didn't. So there is obviously something more behind it." Marlene was very proud of herself at having deduced as much, and the smug look on her face only served to irk Lily even more.

"Maybe I just thought you would react like this if I told you!" Lily's glare rivaled those commonly seen in a match of Potter vs. Snape.

"Well, I think you're protesting too much. You are most certainly hiding something from us. And besides, you didn't tell us at all, the letter fell out of your bag!"

My eyebrows twitched in confusion, but I was tempted to laugh anyway. Marlene was forever convinced that Lily was in love with James Potter, and every year hours were spent on trying to get her to admit it. This letter business, however, was new to the whole equation.

"What exactly is going on here?" I quietly asked Dorcas Meadowes, the girl sitting closest to me. She was watching the argument with a rather bemused look on her face.

She chuckled before answering. "Apparently Lily's been keeping some kind of correspondence with Potter over the summer and didn't tell anyone. One of the letter's he sent fell out of her shoulder-bag, and Marlene's been tearing into her ever since."

I snickered slightly and refrained from rolling my eyes. We all knew Lily had feelings for Potter; most of us were just quieter about it than Marlene. It was easy enough to see that the constant banter between the non-couple had become more a matter of pride than of feelings. Yes, Potter loved her, but he was just as proud about making it known almost daily and not backing down as she was about turning him down. If either one of them gave in now, it would be a show of weakness. I think those two are just the last ones not to see it.

"For the last time, I am not in love with him!" Lily threw her hands up in exasperation. "I will admit, however, that I have discovered Ja- Potter to not be quite the insensitive prat I used to think he was." Lily ran a hand through her hair anxiously as she awaited her friends' reaction to the proclamation.

"Aha!" Marlene shouted. "I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" She began dancing a little jig around the compartment.

"Knew what?" Lily asked.

"Well you've as good as admitted it, haven't you? If you don't hate Potter, which is what you've been telling us all since third year when he declared his undying love for you, then surely that means you've come to your senses and finally realized you're in love with him!"

If I hadn't been so amused by Marlene's antics, I probably would have pointed out the fallacy of her reasoning. As it was, I was too preoccupied with trying not to burst out laughing.

I failed in that, as well, the moment I saw the helplessly pathetic look on Lily's face. As I fell over the edge into hilarity, my friends all joined me in cracking up at the redhead's expense.

"Oh, what's so funny, Ashlynn?" Lily snapped, and all my attempts at stopping fell right back to pieces. And then – "Ashlynn! Oh my gosh, when did you get here?"

It took me a few minutes to compose myself enough to respond. "About ten minutes ago, Lils."

I could tell Lily felt bad for not noticing my entrance, and I provided a quick change of topic for her. Everyone seemed to love making fun of her, and sometimes I felt bad for the poor girl.

"Lils, don't you have a prefect meeting to be Heading right about now?" We all knew that Dumbledore had made Lily Head Girl; she had sent every one of us an excited letter about it the moment she discovered the shiny new badge that had arrived with this year's booklist.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, jumping out of the seat she had fallen into only moments ago. Flustered, she bounded to the door. "I'll see you all later, I've got to run! Thanks, Ash!" Without further ado, she was gone.

Dorcas leaned back in her seat as the door slid shut behind everyone's favorite green-eyed wonder. "So," she grinned, "how was everyone's summer?"

The rest of the train ride was filled with comfortable chatter about summer fun, new plans for our last year, and concerns about N.E.W.T.s. I just sat back and enjoyed the first opportunity that I'd had in a long time to really relax.

**A/N:**

**One chapter down, quite a few to go. I hope you liked it, and I would love to hear from you whether you did or not. After all, I can't make it better if you don't tell me what to fix!**

**Lots of love and signing off,  
>Snoball13<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**You guys didn't give me any love last time. I know you're all busy, but I'm starting to feel like I wrote all this for nothing. So you know, I already ****have the first 5 chapters written, and once I get some love, I'll post the next one.**

"And the night shall be filled with music,

And the cares that infest the day

Shall fold their tents like the Arabs

And as silently slip away."

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Day Is Done

**Chapter 2: A Song to Remember**

As I stepped off the train into the slight chill of the evening air, I took a deep breath and let it soak into my lungs to renew me. It may sound cheesy, but every year, the first thing I did off the train was breathe in the feel of home.

Marlene slung her arms around Dorcas and me. "We're ba-ack," she announced in a singsong voice, wearing an enormous grin. She hummed with excitement as we selected a carriage and climbed in. Before it could pull away, Lily hopped in, and we were joined by the self-proclaimed Marauders.

Oh yeah. Did I mention that the two most obnoxious boys in my year, James Potter and Sirius Black, were Remus's best friends, along with the rather mousy-looking Peter Pettigrew? And together, the four of them were the Marauders, the most popular boys in school.

There wasn't a person in the carriage who wasn't surprised when Potter sat down beside Lily and received no protests; even he threw her a strange look before a goofy grin spread across his face and he ran a hand through his hair, spiking it up even more than it already was. The boy's hair was in a constant state of disarray, and he never did a thing about it. According to Remus, Potter thought it made him more attractive. Apparently no one ever bothered to tell him otherwise.

Remus settled in next to me and I smiled at him. I really had missed him over the summer. Unfortunately, my mother knew about Remus's condition, and didn't approve of werewolves. I was only allowed to see him at school because she couldn't do anything about it, and we both considered ourselves lucky that she hadn't taken up the matter with Professor Dumbledore. Something like that could have done serious damage to Remus's education. If my mother wasn't good friends with his, we probably wouldn't be so fortunate.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Black smirk and elbow Potter in the ribs. He always seemed to think there was more to Remus and me than friendship. It made me laugh sometimes, but I just let him think what he wanted to.

Black's eyes lingered on me for a moment too long, sending chills down my back. I was suddenly reminded of his cousin Narcissa, whose eyes held the same calculative coolness. "So," I said suddenly, breaking the intensity of his gaze, "did everyone have a good summer?" I saw him shake his head convulsively, and then I was distracted by the eager answers to my question the other boys were supplying.

I let the conversation flow around me, and it continued all the way to the castle and into the Great Hall. I was perfectly comfortable listening to everyone else's stories, even the repeated tales I'd already heard on the train. For once, all the Gryffindors in my year were getting along, and that was enough to make my day.

The seating arrangement everyone fell into was different than the usual, girls intermixing with Marauders. Potter and Black naturally settled in next to each other, but Lily sat next to Potter, and Marlene very conspicuously placed herself next to Black. She had been crushing on him for years. I actually got to sit next to Remus, and Peter Pettigrew, the last of the boys, sat on his other side, with Dorcas seated next to me. It was a nice change.

I watched with interest as the little first-years filed in nervously. It was so easy to remember the day when it had been my turn to sit in front of the crowded room and be Sorted...

_I was standing in a throng of anxious eleven-year-olds, bouncing on my toes in an attempt to see the front of the room, where another student was being Sorted. Remus had already been sent to the Gryffindor table, so I was by myself._

_They had reached the end of the "M"s and were moving into the "N"s. "HUFFLEPUFF!" a wizened voice cried out, and then the strict-looking woman up front called out "Nott!"_

_A scrawny, angry-looking boy shoved past me and headed up to be Sorted. Again, I strained to see over the heads of the crowd. Why did everyone have to be so much taller than me?_

_It seemed the boy had barely reached the front when the same voice shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"_

_And then came the call of, "O'Hara!"_

_My whole body was quaking as I slowly made my way to the front of the group. Everyone parted to let me through, and I was surprised when I saw that the only thing on the little stage was a floppy old hat sitting on a stool. As small as I was, I hadn't been able to see anything but the ceiling from my place at the back of the group._

_A confused look on my face, I sat down and placed the hat on my head. I was startled when a small, ancient voice began whispering in my ear._

_"Quiet, yes, and a little self-conscious, but _sharp_, that's for sure..."_

_"I am not self-conscious!" I thought fiercely. But then, I always hated being short..._

_"Ah, a defiant little one, aren't you, and bold as well? Let's see, yes, I know just where to send you!" I swear that stupid hat laughed at me a little before it shouted out for everyone to hear, "GRYFFINDOR!"_

_I jumped at the sudden loudness of the decision, but then a wide grin took over my face as my new House erupted into cheers. I hopped off the stool and dropped the hat back onto it, and then almost skipped over to sit next to Remus. He squeezed my shoulder in congratulations as the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" and a small, pudgy boy shuffled away from the stage wearing a look of shocked excitement._

_The woman called out "Potter!" and a boy with messy hair and glasses jumped forward. He seemed to have no concerns at all about being sorted, and sure enough, as soon as the hat touched his head it yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"_

_This time I joined the cheer at my table and I heard two identical redhead boys a few seats down saying, "That's three Gryffs in a row, mate!" and "I know. It's going to be a great bunch, I can just feel it!"_

_I felt it, too. Still grinning like a fool, I settled back into Remus's shoulder and watched the rest of my class be sorted..._

I came back to the present as the Sorting Hat finished its song, disappointed that I had missed the last song it would sing in my time here.

And then McGonagall unrolled her scroll of names and the Sorting began.

"Adams!"

A jumpy little boy with choppy hair made his way to the front, and after a few minutes of contemplation the hat declared him a "HUFFLEPUFF!" and a cheer went up behind me.

As the Ceremony continued, I felt another rush of first-year nostalgia. This really was my last year for all of this. My last Sorting, my last first day, my last time at Hogwarts. It was kind of ironically poignant for me; how much time do we spend thinking classes are such a waste of time, and then when it comes around to leaving, we can't imagine being anywhere else? I was really going to miss this place.

But what was I doing, thinking about leaving when I had another fabulous year ahead of me? I should be enjoying this, right? Here I was worrying about leaving when I should have been making use of the time I had.

After all, it wasn't the Sorting Hat's song that mattered the most; there was a kind of melody to everyday life, a tune that easily fades into the background when you've been listening to it for long enough.

I let the smile return to my face and watched the antsy preteens shuffling around in their line. When "Baker," "Brown," and "Carraway," all became Gryffindors one after the other I heard Potter lean over to Black and whisper something.

"That's three Gryffs in a row, mate!"

"I know," Black said, giving me a strange sense of déjà vu. "It's going to be a great bunch, I can feel it."

I laughed quietly to myself, realizing that if anyone had lived up to the standard set by Gideon and Fabian Prewett when it came to troublemaking, it was those two. Even more than the rest of their group, they had taken on the responsibility of making our time at Hogwarts... interesting. They were forever the topic of conversation, playing pranks on everyone – especially the Slytherins – and remaining perpetually in detention.

I occupied my time thinking about what I was going to tell Remus about my summer. I tried to spare him some of the nastier details - he always did for me, and I didn't think most of it really had much to do with the actual point of the story. I had spent most of my summer doing chores for my mother and hiding in my room. But that definitely didn't mean there wasn't a lot to tell.

I joined the cheer with my table when a tall, lanky boy called "Quirke" was made a Gryffindor. He sat with the other four or five first years with a large grin on his face, and I smiled. Black was right; this was going to be a great bunch.

**A/N:**

**I just had to fit Gideon and Fabian Prewett in there. I feel like everyone forgets about them, and I have to imagine that they were the inspiration behind Fred and George; at least from a generational perspective. The ultimate troublemakers. Who knows what they would have made of themselves had they not died so young. Sniffle. Such a waste of talent.**

**Anyway, that's chapter two, and all its déjà vu, just for you.**

**Signing off with a hope to hear from you,  
>Snoball13<strong>

**p.s. But you can call me Sno. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**I feel much more loved this time. Thanks for all the opinions, guys. This is personally my favorite chapter out of all of those written so far. Hope you enjoy it as much.**

"Weather is a great metaphor for life - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella."

~Terri Guillemets

**Chapter 3: When it Rains, it Pours**

I don't know who invented the Alarm Spell, but I have a very passionate hatred for him. Or you know what, that sounds like the kind of thing a woman would come up with.

Anyway, Dorcas seemed to think it was a fantastic idea, and so she set one to go off the next day. At five bloody thirty in the morning.

It was not a good start to my day.

On top of the screeching sound of the alarm (the muggle kind are so much easier on the ears), I couldn't find my favorite shoes and had to wear heels. I mean, I like heels, but they're very impractical for walking around school all day.

I frowned as my shoes clicked and clacked down the stairs the whole way to breakfast, and I just had a bad feeling about the day. I was a little worried about what kind of calamity might occur in the Great Hall. After all, the first day back was a notorious Marauder prank day. I surveyed the room hesitantly from the corridor, craning my neck to see if anything looked amiss. Everything looked pretty normal, and no one seemed to be screaming, so I took the chance and stepped into the Hall.

And I was immediately drenched.

I looked up at the doorframe and saw that a small storm cloud had formed over my head. Blinking the water out of my eyes, I headed to a seat next to Remus at the Gryffindor table. The first thing I did before I sat down was pull out my wand and point it at myself. "Impervius!" I muttered darkly. I felt the difference immediately; instead of soaking up the water like a dry sponge, I was repelling it. I still had the problem of a cloud following me around (I would never boost their egos by telling them so, but it really was a brilliant bit of magic), but I was no longer dealing with a constant deluge.

"Hilarious, Potter," I deadpanned at the smirking boy. "Just for the record, I usually prefer to at least get through breakfast before coming face to face with the weather."

"Hey," Black said from beside him, apparently offended. "How come you're so sure it was Prongs' idea?"

I rolled my eyes. "Your ideas tend to be more permanent and less friendly. And you almost always target Slytherin specifically."

He pondered my reasoning for a minute before he shrugged and said, "Fair enough," before stuffing almost an entire piece of toast in his mouth.

I wrinkled my nose in distaste and turned to Remus. "How do I get this thing to go away?" It was still raining all around me, and I noticed that a lot of people throughout the room were dealing with the same problem.

"Sorry. I'm not allowed to tell you." After Remus had told me the counter-spell for last year's first day prank, the boys were very careful to specify that he wasn't allowed to help me in any way, shape, or form.

Brushing the puddle in front of me onto the floor, I thought about what might end the spell. I tried, "Finite Incantatem!" but nothing happened, and I was still being rained upon.

It occurred to me that I had seen magic like this before, but I couldn't remember where or when.

And then it hit me. "Meteolojinx Recanto!" I exclaimed, pleased to see the cloud overhead dissipate as I did. I said a quick drying charm and happily spooned some eggs onto my plate.

Potter was gaping at me. "Wha- how did you..." he trailed off, horrified that I had so easily defeated their innovative spell.

I laughed at the blatant confusion on his face. "My dad works for Magical Maintenance at the Ministry, and they have problems with the Atmospheric Spells all the time."

They obviously hadn't considered that, because all four of them were looking at me as if I was suddenly speaking Latin.

Shaking my head, I turned to look around the Hall. It was fuller now, and each table had a collection of storm clouds hovering over it. Many students were waving their wands in desperate attempts to make them go away, several sixth and seventh years had conjured umbrellas, and a very few students had simply settled in to breakfast and done their best to ignore their sodden robes and books. I appeared to be the only student successful in performing an effective counter-spell. That was certainly a first for me.

A sobbing first-year walked past me, and I took pity on him, muttering, "Meteolojinx Recanto," under my breath.

"Hey!" Potter said, looking rather affronted. "That's against the rules!"

"Potter, as I am not a Marauder, I don't believe your rules apply to me. Besides, when is it ever good fun to make a first-year cry?"

"She's got a fair point, mate," Black told him, although he didn't look too pleased with me either.

The Head Table was free of weather oddities, and Dumbledore was looking on with some amusement as students came up with all kinds of unsuccessful methods of removing their own clouds.

I heard a series of high-pitched shrieks at the door, and turned to see that my three best mates had walked completely unsuspecting through the door and slipped in the growing puddle there. Lily stood up first and stormed over to us with a full-blown glare on her face.

"Potter!" she growled. "What did you do?"

He shrunk away from her slightly, gulping in a very comical fashion. "Umm..."

"It's a joke, Evans," Black drawled. "Lighten up."

She turned her venomous gaze on him and said tightly, "Does it look like I'm laughing?"

He raised his hands in surrender, leaving his friend to deal with her. They seemed to have an unspoken code of leaving girl problems personal. When it came to Lily, I couldn't much blame them for it.

"Potter!" she said, turning back to the boy who was now running his hands nervously through his hair. "If Remus helped Ashlynn, then you can most certainly help me!"

"Don't even think about it," Black muttered in Potter's ear. His eyes were looking directly at me, as if daring me to say something.

Poor, clueless, little Pettigrew spoke up and told Lily, "But Moony didn't help her. She figured it out herself."

I found myself swallowing, hard, as Lily's steely glare slowly turned in my direction.

"Ashlynn!" she screeched, her voice rising shrilly. "Do something about this."

I was tempted to let her suffer a little longer, especially since I'd had no help myself, but she was now brandishing her wand in anger and I'd seen enough of Lily's hexes to know that I didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of them.

The boys were all watching me expectantly, but I reminded them quickly, "Your rules don't apply," and then pointed my wand at Lily. "Meteolojinx Recanto!"

She sat down with a squelch, her eyes still narrowed at us. I noticed that she intentionally kept a bit of space between herself and Potter.

"So is everyone ready for classes?" I asked, trying to diffuse some of the tension.

It didn't work. I got a few shrugs and one word answers, but otherwise everyone was silent. Lily's outburst seemed to have drained all of the fun from the joke; they weren't even laughing anymore when students screamed or slipped.

With a sigh, Remus raised his wand and muttered a series of words I couldn't understand under his breath. The clouds overhead immediately began to diminish, and people around the Hall were cheering.

I'm sure you've heard the saying that misery loves company, but from my experience, it's not true. It didn't make me feel any better to see that the Marauders were having a bad day too. If anything, it made it worse.

I stabbed viciously at the eggs on my plate, no longer hungry. I barely even blinked as a piece of parchment appeared in front of me - my schedule.

I looked over it dully and discovered that my day truly could get worse. My first class: double potions.

How bloody fantastic.

**A/N:**

**I hope you recognize my little counterspell. If you don't, you might want to check out the seventh book. You might have missed something kind of important if you didn't read it. And now, after I get some love, you'll get chapter four!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks very much, Evenstar. And also to everyone who read. I appreciate the time you give my story. **

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

~Napoleon Bonaparte

**Chapter 4: Seating Arrangements**

I walked into the Potions classroom twenty minutes later and paused momentarily. Instead of lounging at their desks, my classmates were lined up in front of Slughorn's desk like a bunch of primary schoolers. I joined the lineup with some confusion, but I wasn't the only one surprised by the arrangement. Everyone was looking around at each other in want of an explanation.

"Oho, it looks like everyone's here!" Slughorn clapped his hands together in delight and announced, "You will all be working with partners of my choice this semester, as we begin to work with some of the more complex potions you will encounter throughout the course of your education."

Geez, he sounded like a bloody textbook! What happened to the old Slughorn whose most profound speech was qualified by less than two "Oho!"s?

There was a chorus of groans from everyone, and I won't deny I was one of them. I hated the Slytherins as much as anybody, and I didn't really know any of the Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs in my year. I knew a couple of fourth-year Ravenclaws, but that was only because it was my brother's House. This year was going to be absolutely awful!

"Alright, here we go!" Slughorn said, sounding much more himself and unrolling a little scroll. A seating chart?_ How theatrical_, I thought dryly.

"Oho! Mulciber and Pettigrew." Little Pettigrew frowned. "Avery and Meadowes." Dorcas wrinkled her nose. "Evans and Potter." Again with the lack of complaints from Lily - we all knew he favored her anyway.

He moved on as I bit my lip, crossing my fingers behind my back. Please God, don't pair me with anyone awful. "Williams and McKinnon." A slender, timid-looking girl I'd never noticed before breathed a sigh of relief. I smiled to myself; she'd gotten really lucky. "Nott and Branstone." I heard a whimper somewhere down the line.

"This is horrible," I whispered to Remus, "Half our class is going to wind up dead!"

He elbowed me lightly in the ribs. "Stop being so dramatic."

I shut my mouth, and it twisted into a frown as I waited to hear my name.  
>"Lupin and Snape," Slughorn went on. Oh no! Snape knew what Remus was, since Black played a cruel joke on him fifth year and tried to get him killed. Now he was forever cruel to Remus in return, thinking he had been in on the joke, which he most certainly had not.<p>

"Black and O'Hara," he droned. Damn, speak of the devil. At least he wasn't a Slytherin, I reminded myself. The consolation fell flat. Of all the Marauders, Black was the worst. You couldn't quite blame him, with a family like his, but he'd had a chance to change, as far as I was concerned, and he blew it. I squeezed Remus's hand as we parted, heading to our desks. He offered a weak smile in return, and I reminded myself that I at least had a better deal than him.

"And Madley and Whitby. Well, there we are!"

Slughorn seemed so cheerful about all this, and it occurred to me that he wasn't pairing us off this way because of the class's complexity, or because he wanted to torture all the non-Slytherins. It was because of all the traumatic experiences the Marauders put him through in the past when they worked together. I wasn't sure how he thought pairing Gryffindors with Slytherins was going to help, though….

I glanced quickly at Black, who was watching me curiously, and turned away even faster. I could have sworn I heard him chuckle softly, and as we began working on a potion that wasn't nearly as difficult as Slughorn had led us to believe, I wondered if he knew why I didn't like him.

I was one of the few girls in the school who wasn't completely smitten with him, and ironically one of the few who spent much time with him, as well. What had turned me away from the prospect of befriending him, since the moment we met was his arrogance, the way he seemed to think himself better than most other people.

I knew that a lot of people saw all the Marauders that way, but I knew better. Potter was prideful, but not so haughty, and Remus was usually very modest; he just let them convince him to do things he would never have done otherwise. And Pettigrew... well, he was more of a –

"O'Hara!" Black said loudly, waving a hand in my face. I shook my head to clear the proverbial cobwebs.

"What?" I asked, somewhat alarmed.

"Merlin, I've been trying to get your attention for ages. I said, do you have any more porcupine quills? I've used all mine, but I don't have enough."

"Oh! Yes, yes, sorry, I just, er..." I trailed off, rummaging through my potion kit. "Here," I said, dumping the porcupine quills on the table.

He separated out as much as he needed and tipped them into the cauldron. I realized suddenly that I'd barely been helping him work at all, and guilt swept through me. Here I was complaining to myself about him, and he was wordlessly completing our assignment without me.

I looked at my textbook to see where he was in the instructions, and hurried to start weighing the odd purple toadstools we were supposed to add next. I shredded them quickly with a steady hand and again I caught Black watching me as I worked. My eyebrows pulled together. Why did he keep looking at me like that?

I self-consciously tugged my sleeves down farther over my wrists. There was something in that gaze that brought out his similarity to his family, something that made me shudder with a sentiment akin to fear.

I remembered comparing him to Narcissa, one of his unpleasant cousins. She was cold, distant, and looked on everyone who wasn't a "proper pureblood" with disdain. Now, however, I saw that Narcissa was too light of a comparison for him. She was too straight-laced, and he, too wild.

I was instead reminded of Bellatrix, Narcissa's sister, who was as malicious as Amos Diggory was pompous. Both sisters had the same cold glare that Sirius did, but only Bellatrix shared that manic glint that I was becoming uncomfortably familiar with.

Quite suddenly he grinned, and I glanced across the room to see what had caught his eye. That little glance turned into a gaping stare; James Potter was very animatedly telling Lily a story, moving his hands to illustrate something I couldn't understand from my place across the classroom, and she was laughing. As I watched incredulously, she twisted a strand of fiery hair around her finger, tilting her head and biting her lip.

I never thought I would live to see the day, but right before my eyes, Lily Evans, the original Gryffindor lioness, was _flirting_ with James Potter.

Wow.

Eyebrows furrowed, I turned to Black. "Did you happen to see anything odd in the Daily Prophet this morning?"

Bemused, he tore his eyes away from our best friends and looked at me. "No. Why?"

"Oh, you know," I shrugged. "I was just wondering if it was predicted that the sky was going to fall today, or if it was a random phenomenon."

He snickered at my joke. "I don't think anyone could have predicted _that_," he said.

"Touché."

**A/N:**

**Oh, Slughorn. I don't think there's anyone who ever liked him, but you can do so much with him, writing-wise. Not to mention he never fails to make me laugh. ****As for the whole Narcissa/Bellatrix comparison to Sirius, I love him as much as anyone, and we all want to see him as one of the good guys, a Gryffindor, but you have to keep in mind how he grew up, and that until he was Sorted, his family doted on him in their own creepy way. He spent the early years of his life as what we'd all call one of the bad guys. It kind of puts things in perspective.**

**I still love him to death, though.**

**~Sno**


	5. Chapter 5

**You guys are the best! I'm glad to see that you like my work. Hope you like where I'm going with this, because ****you're about to find out what I'm doing. At least kind of. Anyway, you'll want to pay attention to this chapter.**

"I do not understand how anyone can live without some small place of

enchantment to turn to."

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, _Cross Creek_

**Chapter 5: Hideout**

There's something to be said for rain. Not a torrential downpour, perhaps, which just about anyone can agree is simply frustrating and cumbersome, but a light drizzle can be enjoyable, even enlightening. I might not be reclusive, but I do tend to be introverted sometimes, and what rain really provides more than anything is a chance to be alone.

At least, that's what I used to think.

My favorite place to go when it rains is the forbidden forest. Yeah, I know, it's _forbidden_. So what? It's not like anyone actually goes outside except me on rainy days. I go out there and think, or read, or just to have a good cry. Especially, and I know this sounds odd, right after I come back to school.

Here's the trick: Remus and his friends have this thing they call the Marauders' Map. They made it themselves, just finished it off this summer over at Potter's place. It not only shows the entire school and all its secret passageways, but it also shows all the people in the school, too. I just look at the map, figure out where all the teachers are, and take some of the passageways the boys are sure Filch doesn't know about.

Once I'm out the front doors, then I'm free and clear, so long as I'm careful.

It's kind of fascinating, knowing that no one but Remus knows where I am.

Well, and I'm pretty sure the Marauders know I come outside, but they don't know exactly where I go.

The next afternoon, the clouds started rolling in, looming darkly on the horizon. By dinnertime, the rain had begun, and once I had finished my mashed potatoes (the house elves in the kitchen make the best potatoes), I made my way outside to the forest. I had hidden my cloak in my bag so I didn't have to detour back to the Common Room, and I was out before the teachers were done with dessert.

My spot is somewhat covered, so the rain doesn't come down quite so hard there. I collapsed in the damp moss and curled into a ball on my side, away from the forest, and cried.

I pulled back my sleeves to reveal the painful gashes and bruises that covered my arms, hissing as the fabric pulled against the unsightly scabs. All day in school I held back as I was bumped and jostled in the hallway, knowing that no one but Remus knew, just like I was one of the few people that knew his secret.

I heard a rustling in the bushes and froze, choosing to otherwise disregard it. It was probably a deer or, at worst, a centaur. Either way, I would be left alone. I didn't even bother to look.

In retrospect, maybe I should have. But I had no way of knowing that at the time.

So I was shocked when I heard a voice speak behind me, and jumped so that I bumped my head on a rock. "Well that looks painful."

I sat up, careful not to hit my head again, and said, "Black. Who invited you?"

"What?" he said, irritatingly smug. "Did you think you were the only one who found this place?"

"So what if I did? It's not like I've ever seen you here before," I told him rudely. I regretted that some later, but it was my spot.

"And I suppose you've been here every minute of every day to know one way or the other."

He had me there. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

He shrugged. "Thinking."

"Great. We can think together, then. As long as you're not loud about it."

"Oh, is that what you were doing?"

"Shut up," I told him before I turned back around, intent on ignoring him until he left, or I did. I pulled my sleeves back down, his time allowing myself to whimper, despite Black's obvious presence behind me.

"It's alright, you know," he said quietly. "You don't have to be all tough just for me." He was actually trying to be sincere for once in his life. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

Now have to admit, that surprised me. I turned around slowly and asked, "What do you mean?"

Gently, he reached over and pulled my sleeves up, revealing to him what I had so desperately tried to hide from the rest of the world. As soft as he was trying to be, his calloused hands were rough on my skin, and I yelped slightly as he slipped the ends of my sleeves over my elbows.

He winced in sympathy and moved to push his own sleeves up, revealing similar marks marring his own tan skin.

I bit my lip and looked at him, waiting for him to say something, and then he did. "You don't have to hide anything from me. I know what it's like."

And that's when Black really became Sirius to me.

I gave him a weak smile and said, "It's always worse during the summer. Even when I wasn't in school yet. I think it's because he always drinks more in the summer, so my mum's harder on him about it, and so that just adds to it all, and –" I stopped short as it occurred to me that I had no reason to be spilling my life story to this boy about whom, despite years of spending time with him, I knew essentially nothing.

"And what?" he asked, seemingly intent.

I shook my head and paused. "Why do you even care? It's not like we know each other, or even like each other that much." It was a bold thing to say, not really my kind of statement, but I wanted to know what he was thinking.

"Doesn't mean I don't want to."

"Want to what?" Now he was confusing me, and I was pretty sure he knew it, too.

"Know you. All of us wanted to know you, but you were so caught up in hating us and loving Moony that you didn't realize it." I tilted my head to the side, even more befuddled. "You're friends with Remus," he clarified, "which makes you okay in all our books. It's your own fault we never got to know you."

Caught up in something he'd said, I blurted, "I do not."

He blinked at me. This time, it was his turn to be confused.

"I don't hate you," I repeated. "Maybe it seemed like it. You _were_ frustrating, and I never really felt it necessary to make time for any of you, but I certainly don't hate you. I try to reserve that term for those who are truly evil."

"But you don't like me, either."

I smiled again, this time putting a little more heart in it. "Why don't I reserve judgment on that, seeing as we've both agreed I don't really know you."

"That sounds nice," he said, returning my smile for the first time.

And _that_ was the beginning of my friendship with Sirius Black.

The silence following was short, but comfortable, and then he said, "So… what were you saying about your family?"

Subtle.

"Oh." I didn't really say anything else, just kind of stared at him like a deer in the light of a Lumos charm.

"Nevermind," he said. "If your family's anything like mine, I can see why you wouldn't want to talk about it."

"I'm pretty sure my family isn't anything like yours. My dad's a Muggleborn." I paused and then added a rushed, "No offense."

"None taken." He gave me a wry smile. "I'm not exactly proud of my family, if you know what I mean."

"Trust me, I know." I was momentarily caught up in a series of flashbacks to the many times when my parents fought, or when my dad beat me or my brother, the few times he beat my mother when he was really enraged, the days he came home without being paid because he hadn't been to work all week. My mind went immediately to my fifth birthday, when my father came home in the middle of my mother's effort to fix a nice dinner for me. If memory served, she had been making a roast.

_I rushed out of my room as I heard a key turn in the door downstairs. __I pressed my face between the bars of the railing and yelled, "Daddy!" At that age, I was still excited to see him when he came home every day._

_He stumbled through the door, swaying drunkenly, and shot me a leering grin from his place by the door. "Hey there, sweetheart," he called up to me, waving cheerfully as if he was seeing me for the first time in weeks._

_Not knowing why he was acting so strange, I giggled and said, "Daddy, you saw me just this morning! Stop being so silly."_

_Little did I know, he couldn't stop, and wouldn't stop for years to follow. That was only my first experience of my father's drinking, and it didn't even come close to the worst. No, but to me, it was the most horrible thing I had ever seen._

_He staggered into the kitchen and said, "Hey there, doll!" like he was super happy to see my mum. That didn't last long._

_I scrambled down the stairs on my own unsteady feet and ran to the kitchen. My mum was facing my dad, hands on her hips, fussing at him. Apparently, he had done something wrong._

"_Where have you been?" she screeched. "I suppose you couldn't take the time to come home, you were too busy at the damn bar." This was the first time my mother ever used a curse word in front of me. In fact, that night held a lot of firsts for me._

"_I… well, you see, I mean, I couldn't, that is to –" he stammered before she cut him off._

"_It's your daughter's birthday for Merlin's sake, did it even cross your _mind_ that you should worry about making someone other than yourself happy for once in your life?" she turned away from him and went back to her cooking, still raging at him. "Of course you didn't," she said as she viciously attacked the potatoes she was supposed to be chopping. We ended up with mashed potatoes instead of boiled that night. "Why would you ever bother to think of someone beside yourself?"_

_She whirled to look at him again, violently brandishing the knife she held. "You are a self-centered, narcissistic pig, you know that, but you should at _least_ have the sense not to ruin a five-year-old girl's birthday night by _almost forgetting to show up_!" Of course, this was before she knew what a disappointment I would turn out to be._

"_My little girl is happy, and don't you ever think otherwise!" he turned and bent down to my level, grabbing my arm painfully. "Aren't you, darling?" I was so terrified in that moment that although it wasn't true, I nodded mutely, hoping he would let go of me._

_He didn't release my arm until my mum came flying at him, screaming, "Get your hands off my daughter, you animal!" She yanked him away from me, and that was when I heard the resounding SLAP that echoed through the kitchen. It wasn't until I saw her cradling her face that I realized my dad had hit her._

_But that wasn't right. My dad would never hit my mum. _Never._ But what I could see right before my eyes said otherwise._

_Then, more angry than ever, my dad pushed my mum down on the floor and had his hand at her throat and then it was my turn to scream. I was absolutely confused and horrified. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "Take it back, you bitch!" he yelled, his voice slurring._

_I ran forward, finally taking action, and wrapped my small hands around his arm. "Don't hurt mommy!" I sobbed, trying in vain to pull him off her. "Don't hurt her!"_

_That's how our family has been ever since, with the inclusion of my brother._

When I realized how long I'd been caught up in the past, it was starting to get dark. I could just see the light of the moon through the clouds overhead.

I felt the tears staining my cheeks first, before I realized how hard I was shaking. Sirius's arms were wrapped around me, keeping me steady. As bold a move as it was, I was thankful for it. I pulled away slowly, feeling more vulnerable than ever. But even still, it was like he'd said. He understood. He went through the same stuff when he was at home. Finally, there was someone who saw and could understand the pain, the memories, and the absolute terror associated with parents like mine.

I let myself relax before he said, "It's getting late, and it's cold out here. We should go back inside. Everyone's probably realized we're gone by now."

I didn't bother to tell him that no one would care if I disappeared. It wouldn't have made a difference one way or another, and for once, I didn't really care.

**A/N:**

**Well, I'd certainly like to know what you thought of **_**that**_**. Any and all opinions are welcome, so yeah, let me know.**

**Waiting on edge for some reviews,**

**Sno**


	6. Chapter 6

**Prepare yourself for some drama and cover stories. ****And weird, out of characterness that I can't quite figure out, but it's my oc, so who cares? Maybe she was having a bad day, or I don't even know what. I just know it was necessary for where I'm going. Make up whatever explanation you want. Use your imagination, since mine seems to be touring Europe.**

Strangers are just friends waiting to happen.

~Rod McKuen, _Looking for a Friend_

**Chapter 6: ****Trying too Hard**

When I stepped into the Common Room a good half hour later, I was still chatting with Sirius, grinning like an idiot. This was the best I'd felt in a long time, just being able to sit down and talk for a while. It sounds strange, I know, but I think it's because I spent so long away from Remus, and since we'd been back to school, we'd been too busy with the loads of homework the teachers had given us just in the first few days of classes.

Even so, it felt like I'd been neglecting my best friend, so I made a mental note to really talk to him over the weekend, get a chance to have a real conversation with him. It occurred to me that now that Sirius and I were on better terms, he would probably tell Potter about it – although hopefully not _all_ of it; I didn't particularly want the entire school knowing all about my family life – and maybe I could hang out with all of the Marauders, instead of trying to find time to be alone with Remus.

The moment the portrait closed behind me, I saw a flash of red and yellow before the great Lily Evans collided with me. "My god, Ashlynn, where have you been? You've been gone for hours!"

I shrugged sheepishly and said, very eloquently, "Umm…" and looked at Sirius, hoping for a better explanation than, "I sat in the rain for a while because I wanted to be alone."

When Lily noticed him standing there next to me and realized we'd come in together, the expression on her face changed completely, morphing to confusion, then shock, and then right into stubborn determination, no doubt to get the story behind this new conundrum. She immediately took hold of my arm and dragged me over to the other girls in our regular corner, where she rounded all of them up, and then right on up the stairs to our dormitory, where she demanded, "Spill," and crossed her arms, waiting for my explanation.

And this time, I didn't even have Sirius to back me up.

"Lils," I started, trying to keep my voice steady. I knew that look of hers. It meant she thought I'd been keeping something from her, and it was a look I'd fervently prayed would never be turned on me. Apparently that had all been in vain. "It's not what you think." She looked skeptical.

"Really, Lily, I've barely talked to the guy outside of being my Potions partner this year. I was out in the woods, I just figured I would get away from everything and think for a while, because I haven't been able to in ages. I'd only been out there for like five minutes when he showed up, and we started talking. We were just coming to terms with each other, I guess the way you and Potter did over the summer." I gave her a pointed look, reminding her that I wasn't the only one with something new this year.

"What were you talking about?"

"Geez, Lils, what is this? The Spanish Inquisition?" She just glared at me, so I continued. "All right, all right. We just commiserated about our families a lot. You know how my mom is, and his parents are even worse, what with all the Pureblood, Slytherin hype. We just… talked. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No," Lily said defensively. "You just caught me off guard, that's all."

"Yeah, well, I caught me off guard, too," I muttered.

I flopped back on my bed, and I was asleep within minutes. I didn't even change into pajamas. It had been a long day.

Two days later, I finally got my chance to really talk to Remus. I had finished a lot of homework and decided I needed a break, so I took my own advice. I wandered over to the Marauders' corner in the Common Room and took a seat on the floor between Potter and Sirius, leaning back against the couch, swallowing hard and then saying, "Hi!" in the brightest and most casual voice I could muster.

"Umm…hi," Sirius said, completely baffled.

Remus, who was sitting across from me, raised an eyebrow at me, and I grinned and shrugged. He just rolled his eyes and shook his head in response.

"What in the bloody hell are you doing here?" Potter asked rather rudely.

"Geez, Potter, with a mouth like that, it's no wonder Lily won't go out with you." I was in a good mood, giddy almost, or I never would have said it, and honestly, I never should have. I don't know where it came from; it was a low blow.

The other boys were as appalled as I was. Potter didn't say a word, Remus gaped at me, and Sirius elbowed me in the side.

I swallowed again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have –"

"No, it's okay," he said, shocking me. I looked at him skeptically, and he said, "Really. I get it. None of you like me, like any of us, except Remus."

I sighed, getting a sense of déjà vu for the second time that week. "I don't have any problem with you, really. I just never thought much about you. Unless you were raining on my breakfast," I grinned, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah well, that's just how we are, eh Prongs," Sirius said, picking right up on where I was going, although how he did it, I have no idea.

"Exactly," I said, and added softly, "I know how all of you are, and I didn't necessary like the way you acted all the time, but that never meant I didn't like _you_. I know you're all good people, or Remus wouldn't trust you the way he does."

I felt kind of weird, telling this to someone I'd never really talked with much before, but it was something all three of them needed to hear – Sirius, Potter, and Pettigrew.

I wished I had done this a long time ago, told them why I kept my distance… if I actually had a reason.

I buried my face in my hands, overcome with my own inner confusion. Sirius's hand reached over to discretely touch my back in comfort. I turned my head slightly and gave him a weak smile. This wasn't exactly how I'd wanted this conversation to go.

"So Ash, what brings you over here?" Remus asked in a strangled voice.

"Iwanneddattaltoyou," I mumbled quickly.

"Sorry?"

"I wanted to talk to you," I told him, making sure to enunciate this time. "We've barely talked since last spring."

He rolled his eyes and laughed at me. _He laughed at me!_ So you can kind of see how I'd be angry, since I was trying – and yeah, so I was failing pretty miserably, but I _was_ trying – to make an effort to be friendly to his friends, instead of pulling him away from them. My eyebrows pulled together and I frowned, trying to glare at him but finding that I couldn't.

Shaking his head in wonder, Remus stood and held a hand out to help me up. I took it and let him pull me to my feet. He was still laughing as he told his friends, "I'll see you all later." I was horrified to find that Potter and Black (he was _so_ not getting Sirius today) were both grinning at him, as well.

I allowed Remus to drag me from the Common Room and all the way down to the Library, where instead of trying to find an open table – completely impossible, thanks to all those damn Ravenclaws – he found an unoccupied corner and sat down.

I slid down the wall rather dramatically with a moan, burying my face in my hands for the second time that day, and muttered into them, "Remus, I'm going to kill you."

"For what?" he asked, as if it wasn't obvious.

"For befriending those moronic gits."

He laughed. Again. So I turned to him, finally unburying my face and asked sweetly, "Remus, did one of them silently hit you with a Tickling Charm?"

He quirked an eyebrow at me. "No…."

All traces of sweetness disappeared immediately and I deadpanned, "Then stop laughing. There's absolutely nothing funny about this."

"Maybe not from your point of view Ash, but really. You don't have to try so hard to get a chance to talk to me. You're my best friend. I always have time for you, and you don't ever forget it." He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling my up against his side and whispered, "Beside, who else is there that's known me since _before_ the beginning of my furry little problem?"

"Your mother?" I suggested, earning myself an elbow to the ribs.

"Very funny," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I thought so."

We talked about everything, from our summers, to the horrors of homework, to how long we thought it would take for Potter and Lily to get together this year.

"I would bet on it," Remus said. "You should've seen how thrilled Prongs has been since Evans sent him back a letter that said something other than _leave me _alone_, you bloody prat!_ He won't stop talking about it. With as happy as he's been, they won't last 'till Christmas this way."

I shook my head. "Lily's too stubborn. Five galleons say they'll wait 'till second term to finally see how positively in love with each other they are."

"You're on," Remus said. "Five galleons. I say it'll be before Christmas, you say after."

"Deal." I paused for a second and voiced a thought. "Who gets Christmas?"

"Me," he said definitely. "Closest without going over, you know?"

"Okay."

We were both laughing together until Remus looked up and said. "Good Merlin, it's eight o'clock. If we don't get back to the tower, McGonagall will have my head." We stood and walked quickly, trying to get back upstairs before we ran into a teacher. I heard voices up ahead and hissed, "In here!" I gripped Remus's arm and pulled him into a vacant classroom, shutting the door almost all the way and stepping out of sight.

"You could give Padfoot a run for his money," he told me, obviously impressed.

"I don't want to talk about your friends," I told him. I didn't mention that I had different reasons for not wanting to talk about each one. Among all the things we'd talked about, neither of us had said a thing about what had happened between me and Sirius. It occurred to me that Potter knew more about Black than Remus did, and it was possible Black had never told him the more serious details of his family life. It would be an awkward conversation, telling Remus after seven years that he'd been keeping one more secret from him, especially since all of the Marauders knew Remus's deepest secret.

So did Remus not know about what had happened that night?

Weird.

**A/N:**

**So you know, I have absolutely nothing against James Potter at all; the only Marauder I dislike is Peter, and who doesn't. How did he ever get Sorted into Gryffindor, anyway?**


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter makes me laugh, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. This chapter is kind of all over the place, but I wanted to give you something after such a long break between chapters. I do apologize for the long wait, by the way, but my health went downhill really fast, so that took priority. I hope you enjoy this chapter, one way or another.**

"Nothing is so common as the wish to be remarkable."

William Shakespeare

**Chapter 7: Quidditch... Interviews?**

The next Saturday was bright and sunny, and could mean only one thing for the students of Gryffindor: Quidditch tryouts.

Since our fifth year, Potter had been captain, and despite all the speeches about "just because you made the team last year doesn't mean you'll make it again this year," Sirius, Marlene and Mary McDonald, who was now a fifth year, had made the team every year without needing to try out.

Not that they didn't act like they were. Oh, they put on a show every year, but the enormous grins across their faces gave them away. As opposed to the rest of the people trying out, who were squinting in concentration, trying their absolute hardest to make themselves the right choice.

Even Potter was serious, because most of the people trying out shouldn't even have bothered, and the rest were split between the giggling girls who didn't actually give a damn about the sport and really cared about the captain, those who wanted to play because they thought it would look good on their resumes - they were mostly muggleborns, as wizards don't actually _have_ resumes - and people who were trying out because their friends or boyfriend or girlfriend was. Altogether, it was one big mess of people who couldn't play Quidditch, so picking out the few people who could was an incredible challenge for him.

I had never quite understood the appeal of James Potter to begin with, but now it seemed especially pointless, since he never dated anyone anymore because of his infatuation with Lily.

I spent the day sitting in the stands with Remus and Dorcas, cheering our friends on. Of course, all of our friends were Gryffindor automatics, but with the way tryouts were turning out, they needed it anyway.

They only needed three more players; a Keeper, a Chaser, and a Beater. They already had everything else filled. Potter usually kept a few alternates, too, for if anyone got injured, but nobody was ever happy with being an alternate, so that never went well either. I just kind of thanked Merlin that I was only ever interested in watching Quidditch. It saved me a lot of time, trouble, and blood over the years.

Suddenly, after a lot of confusion, yelling, and jumbled up who-knows-what, Sirius ran up into the stands to the three of us and said, "Moony, O'Hara, Meadowes, we need your help getting everything organized." I kind of got the impression Remus wasn't surprised by this, but Dorcas obviously was, just like me. We gave each other matching baffled looks and shrugged before we stood in unison and followed the two Marauders down onto the pitch.

As we approached the enormous group gathered in the center, Potter waved us over to the side and said, "Here's the deal." He seemed immensely relieved that we'd agreed to help, and I felt bad for the guy. It wasn't his fault that half the school was in love with him - I was suddenly unsure of my assumption that all the girls followed the Marauders around because of Sirius.

"I need to sort all these guys out into the people more likely to be capable of actually flying a broom. I'll have them split up by what they're trying out for, and then we'll talk to them individually. Ask them why they want to play, how much experience they have, that kind of thing. Then split them up into two groups from there: the likely, and the not so likely."

Why had I agreed to this again? I liked to watch Quidditch, but sorting people out wasn't my thing. "Geez," I said, a bit overwhelmed. "We need the Sorting Hat to get through his mess."

Potter smiled slightly. "Yeah, but I don't think Dumbledore would approve of this particular use of it." I kind of thought otherwise, but I didn't say anything. Dumbledore was weird that way sometimes.

Then Potter turned away from the small group, back to the large, chattering one. "Alright!" he called loudly, and no one stopped talking.

"OI!" a loud voice came from beside me, and I jumped, startled.

"Geez, Black, you don't have kill my ears."

He leaned over and whispered so softly that I barely heard him, "I thought we were on a first name basis." He was so close that I swore his lips brushed against my ear, and his warm breath tickled my neck, making me shiver. I shook it off as he straightened, grinning that stupid grin of his.

Being adventurous, I stood as tall as I could up on my tip-toes, and whispered, "Maybe we are," trying to make my voice as low and seductive as I could without drawing attention to myself.

I think it worked, because as I dropped down to my normal height, I heard him swallow. Hard.

And then I was grinning my own stupid grin, and Potter was addressing us. "Dorcas, all the way at the end of the Pitch, Moony, between her and the middle, I'll stay here, O'Hara" - okay, hold up; how come Dorcas got first name, and I got last name? - "down the other end, and Padfoot, you're between me and Ashlynn."

Much better.

We all split up and headed to our end of the Pitch, waiting for the massive hordes of players who would soon be awaiting our approval. I glanced over at Sirius, and he winked at me. I rolled my eyes at him, and he just grinned in response.

I ended up with the group of people trying out to be Seeker. I thought this was kind of a conflict of interests, since I was friends with Mary, who was pretty much a done deal. She wasn't amazing, but she was good, and Potter actually got along with her alright. I couldn't imagine what would happen if Lily tried out. It would be a disaster, that was certain.

On second thought, looking at the size of the group in front of me, maybe Potter was counting on my bias.

I examined the huge group and sighed, preparing for the monotonous task of talking to every single one of them about Quidditch, about which, while I enjoyed watching it, I did not prefer having lengthy discussions.

It turned out to be not nearly as monotonous as I expected. Besides the obvious few who either loved the sport or had been flying since they were small children, I never got the same answer twice.

My first girl came out and asked "Why do you get to help? You're not even on the team! I'm _so_ complaining about this."

"To whom, exactly? The captain? He's the one who asked me to help in the first place, so I wish you luck. If you have a problem with that, which you obviously do, then we're done here." I kind of snapped, but I stared her down, despite the fact that she was about four inches taller than me. My eyes were narrowed as I said tightly, "Please go and stand on that side of the Pitch," pointing to my left while making every effort not to blink.

The next person in line stepped forward warily, a little second year girl who seemed terrified of me after my outburst. I smiled as naturally as possible to make the girl more comfortable, but she still stepped forward as if she was approaching a hippogriff. She was several feet away from me when she stopped, and I mentally kicked myself, because that was _not_ the best first impression to make.

I stepped forward and whispered in her ear, "Please don't make me do something embarrassing to make you believe that I'm not going to scream at you. I will, if you insist, but please don't." It apparently worked, because she giggled and said, "I won't."

"Now, step into my office," I said, summoning a wide curtain behind which we could talk. She was staring at it in wonder when I followed it with two plush crimson chairs, facing each other. She turned around, and I said, "Take a seat," and proceeded to do so myself. Still gaping at me, she slowly lowered herself into the other chair. I was starting to think that one conversation with Sirius and he was rubbing off on me. I never pulled stunts like this.

"So," I grinned, "Why did you come out for Quidditch?"

"I like flying," she said softly.

"That's a good reason." I thought for a second. "You ever played the real thing before?"

"No. But I helped teach my younger brothers to fly."

I nodded and said, "Yeah, you can go stand over there." I pointed to the right and whispered, "Good luck."

The next few were extra-giggly and got sent off to the left with Miss Attitude, I got one guy who was a fifth year and had never ridden a broom before, and in the next twenty people only found one person who might be capable of flying a broom. Maybe.

Why had I agreed to do this, again? Oh yeah. I didn't agree. I was drafted.

A few more gigglers, and I finally had a boy come through who seemed to have his head firmly on his shoulders. I discovered that he had grown up playing Quidditch in his backyard, knew the majority of the rules, was a fourth year, and loved flying more than anything else. I sighed in relief and sent him off to stand with the two other people who were potential Seeker alternates.

Yeah, you read that right. Out of about thirty people I'd talked to, three might actually be able to ride a broom.

I was going to kill Potter when this was over.

The funniest girl I talked to said something like, "Oh my _good_ness, don't you think Sirius Black is like a god! He is _so_ fit. Aren't you like, friends with him? Isn't he just wonderful?"

And she said all this before I could ask her a single question about why she was trying out. I didn't bother to ask after her gushing outburst; I thought it was kind of obvious. I sent her over with the over-giggly fan-girls and I've-never-ridden-a-broom set and was relieved when the next person who stepped up was Mary.

She was the one who asked me a question when she was behind my still-standing curtain office. "How's it going?"

I quirked an eyebrow at her. "Do you really have to ask? Almost everyone trying out can't fly and are only here to get up close and personal with Potter or Black."

She laughed. "I've heard it was worse when the Prewett twins co-captained in their sixth and seventh years."

"Is that even possible?"

"Apparently so. Of course, I did hear this second-hand."

I shook my head in disbelief and let her go over to the tiny group of people capable of flying.

It took ages to get through the mini interviews, and by the time I got through talking to everyone, two hours had passed. It was almost lunchtime by the time everyone had flown around the pitch five times. Or at least, attempted to. I think almost everyone in Gryffindor tried out, judging by the number of people hanging out in random groups around the pitch. There were about thirty people left who were _real_ candidates once that was over with.

With so few people left, it only took about an hour to finish tryouts, and the team ended up with Potter, Marlene, and a fourth year boy called Jacobs as Chasers, Sirius and a thickset boy whose name I never caught as Beaters, Mary as Seeker, and a tiny third-year girl, whose name I think was Thorpe, as Keeper. At first glance, they appeared to be a particularly hodge-podge group, but knowing Potter, he would have them whipped into shape in a matter of weeks. They would be all-stars by the time the first match came around.

Trust the Marauders to turn a mess into a work of art. At least, that's what we all told ourselves as we watched the unlikely team trudged off the field toward the locker room.

**A/N:**

**So like I said, kind of all over the place, but my writing has been too, lately. Let me know what you think of this and if you have anything you want to see in the upcoming chapters. Hope you weren't too disappointed with this one.**

**Hoping to post chapter eight much more quickly,**

**Sno**


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